Europe

It is widely understood that the Left wants to impose censorship on the rest of us, and where it can, it will. The experience of conservative speakers on university campuses is the most obvious proof. But the truth, I think, is worse: it isn’t just censorship. The Left wants to bully disagreement out of existence. Hence the astonishingly long list of acts of political violence and low-level terrorism that have »

It seems to be a closely guarded secret, but preparations for war are going on in Europe. A Russian fleet that includes that country’s only aircraft carrier made a point of sailing through the English Channel and along the European coast en route to Syria. Nuclear-capable Russian ships are making a demonstration in the Baltic Sea, and Russian troops, reportedly equipped with nuclear weapons, have moved near Russia’s borders with »

This is the kind of news item that has Angela Merkel in political trouble: According to mayor Bernd Pohlers of the eastern town of Saxony Waldenburg, the asylum seekers refused to accept the work that was offered to them after they arrived in the country. The local council spent £600 arranging for the men to have uniforms but were stunned when they were told they would not complete it because »

During an interview with the New York Times yesterday, Donald Trump made two controversial statements about foreign policy. First, in response to the question whether he would come to the aid of NATO allies in the Baltic, Trump said: “If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes.” Second, Trump said he would not pressure Turkey or other authoritarian allies not to conduct purges of their political adversaries »

Breitbart News reports on a leftist who took ideology to a remarkable degree: Selin Gören, who is a spokeswoman for the left-wing youth movement Solid, was attacked in the city of Mannheim in January while working as a refugee activist. She was ambushed in a play area late at night and forced to perform a sex act on her attackers. So she wants the bastards caught and punished, right? Apparently »

When Scotland was getting set to vote on whether to leave Great Britain, “stay” supporters raised the specter that an exit might mean loss of access to popular BBC television series. The “leave” movement took pains to assure Scots they would still be able to watch such shows as EastEnders, Doctor Who, and Strictly Come Dancing. Scotland voted to stay, so we never found out whether an independent Scotland would »

Douglas Murray is the author of the excellent NR article “Exit Britain?” and an associate editor of the Spectator (UK). In the NR article on Brexit Murray comments on Europe’s current immigration crisis: A migrant flow had persisted across the Mediterranean for years, but it now became a flood. By the German government’s own private figures, in 2015 alone around 1.5 million migrants, in addition to those visiting workers who »

I’ve been meaning to spend some time here talking about the “Brexit” vote coming up in the U.K. next month. It is the single most important political event in postwar Europe. Lots to say about this, but for anyone who doesn’t grasp that the Trump phenomenon is not limited to our shores, note that in Austria today, the election for the mostly ceremonial post of president is in a virtual »

I’m back from my trip to “New Europe,” specifically to Prague and Krakow. I highly recommend both cities to potential tourists, and I find the concept of New Europe apt. Poland and the Czech Republic suffered grievously from the two great scourges of the 20th century — Nazism and Communism. So far, they have avoided the scourge of the present century — radical Islam. They have avoided it because Muslims »

From the Washington Post: Take Ice Age Europe, for example. A new study of genetic material from the period reveals a continent roiling with change. First, an upstart band of modern humans arrived, slowly pushing their ancient predecessors out of existence. But soon that new lineage was swept aside by a group of big game hunters. For the next 15,000 years, the older community lay in wait in a remote »

Today in Hannover, Germany, President Obama laid out for Europe’s citizens his vision of the world. In a wide-ranging speech, which you can read here, Obama urged Europeans to uphold the European Union–that message was directed largely to the English–to welcome endless numbers of refugees, and much more. Parts of the speech were pretty good. Other parts, one is tempted to dissect line by line. But I will try to »

In January, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom accused Israel of “extrajudicial executions” of Palestinians–apparently those who were in the act of perpetrating terrorist attacks–and called for an investigation. Yesterday, Sweden’s housing minister, Mehmet Kaplan, resigned after video emerged of him saying that “Israelis treat Palestinians in a way that is very like that in which Jews were treated during Germany in the 1930s.” To cap off the trifecta, earlier today »

In the wake of recent terrorist attacks, Belgium’s Parliament is considering, and is deemed likely to pass, legislation requiring non-EU immigrants to sign a “Newcomers’ Statement” pledging adherence to basic European values. While it doesn’t distinguish among immigrants, the statement is obviously aimed at Muslims. The concept is an interesting one; here is the Statement in its entirety: The statement covers the basic flash points that have emerged in connection »

Details continue to emerge regarding the recent terrorist bombings in Brussels, but the basic story is familiar. In Melbourne’s Herald Sun, columnist Andrew Bolt answers the question: Why Brussels? Why Brussels? Why have Muslim terrorists in Brussels this week slaughtered 34 civilians in the city’s airport and underground? Why did Muslim terrorists from Brussels earlier join the Islamic State attack in Paris that killed 130 people? Why did a Muslim »

It is great sport to make fun of the French as cheese-eating surrender monkeys and worse, but I think there might be some game for a candidate, especially one with initials “DT,” to suggest we borrow a page from the French in the war against Islamic terrorism. Mark Lilla of Columbia University, one of the smarter liberals around whose writing I always try to take in, has a long essay »

The mass immigration from Islamic countries into central and western Europe has been a debacle, particularly in those countries the migrants have selected as desirable destinations, like Germany and Sweden. (Who wouldn’t?) In Germany, the disaster has been such that in at least one poll, 40% of Germans want Chancellor Angela Merkel to resign over her refugee policy. So Germany’s government is trying to adopt a more rational approach toward »

We wrote here about the refugee crisis in Europe, including the fact that hundreds of Moroccan “youths” have taken over Stockholm’s central train station, stealing, assaulting women and attacking security guards. Last night, fifty or more Swedish men, described in some accounts as suspected soccer fans, decided they had had enough and swept through the train station, attacking and driving out the Moroccans who were living there. The Daily Mail »